Synthpop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009) |
 |
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2008) |
| Synthpop | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | |
| Typical instruments |
Synthesizer - Drum machine - Bass Guitar - Tape loops - Drums - Guitar Sequencer - Keyboard - Vocoder - Sampler)
|
| Mainstream popularity | Large, worldwide mostly during early to mid 1980s, and in late 2000s in the UK |
| Derivative forms | Electroclash, Bubblegum pop, Ambient pop |
| Subgenres | |
| Electropop | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Futurepop - Synthpunk - Trance music | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Coldwave | |
Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave and pop music in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It is most closely associated with the era between the late 1970s and early to middle 1980s, although it has continued to exist and develop ever since. Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk were pioneers of the style.[citation needed]
The mid to late 2000s saw a reemergence of interest in the musical style with the advent of 80's-inspired bands such as CSS, Cut Copy, Ladyhawke, Junior Boys and La Roux.
Contents |
[edit] Characteristics
While most current popular music in the industrialized world is realized via electronic instruments, synthpop has its own stylistic tendencies which differentiate it from other music produced by the same means. These include the exploitation of artificiality (the synthesizers are not used to imitate acoustic instruments), the use of mechanical sounding rhythms, vocal arrangements as a counterpoint to the artificiality of the instruments, and ostinato patterns as an effect. Synthpop song structures are generally the same as in other popular music.
[edit] History
[edit] Influences
Mid 20th Century avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen were pioneers in the development of electronic music. The use of synthesizers in rock music began in the 1960s, notably by The Beatles, however, the instruments were highly complex, temperamental, and expensive. In the late 1960s there was a surge of Moog synthesizer-affected albums by artists like Perrey and Kingsley, Dick Hyman and, most notably, Wendy Carlos. Synthesizers became more widely used by progressive rock and jazz fusion groups such as Pink Floyd, Yes, ELO, Genesis, Return to Forever, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Weather Report. Many Krautrock groups like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk heavily incoporated synthesizers into their music as well. The late 1970s Kraftwerk albums, such as Trans-Europe Express and The Man Machine, were particularly influential in the creation of the Synthpop sound.
The mid-1970s, saw the rise of electronic art music musicians such as Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Brian Eno, and Tomita, who were a significant influence of the development of New Age Music. In the late seventies, Suicide, a duo from New York, combined vocals and keyboard in a harsh, avant-garde and often very controversial form. Italian producer Giorgio Moroder was also a significant influence on the further development of electronic music, producing synth driven hits for many artists, most notably Donna Summer.
[edit] Late 1970s to mid 1980s
1977 could be considered the first year for synthpop, as it was the year Giorgio Moroder paired up with Donna Summer to release I Feel Love. While a disco song first and foremost, the programmed, arpeggiated beats had a profound impact on the bands which would soon be known as synthpop. It was also the year that Ultravox member Warren Cann purchased a Roland TR-77 drum machine, which was first featured in their October 1977 single release Hiroshima Mon Amour. The ballad arrangement, metronome-like percussion and heavy use of the ARP Odyssey synthesizer was effectively a prototype for nearly all synthpop bands that were to follow.
In 1978, the first incarnation of The Human League released their debut single Being Boiled. In the US Devo, who had used synthesizers since their beginnings in 1975, moved towards a more electronic sound. While in Japan The Yellow Magic Orchestra released their first album although it was with their 2nd album Solid State Survivor (1979) that they lead the way in what the music press would later define as synth pop.
In the UK the original synthesizer bands had a sound that was generally dark, moody and robotic and were more founded in the avant-garde, art rock genre. Fad Gadget aka Frank Tovey, who was signed to Daniel Miller's Mute Records, was particularly dark and menacing and his stage shows had a Performance art quality to them. Daniel Miller himself had a role in the emerging futurist movement as a performer under the name The Normal which released a one-off single Warm Leatherette, a cult favourite.
In 1979, Giorgio Moroder collaborated with former glam rock group Sparks on their album, No. 1 In Heaven, perhaps one of the first bands to 'crossover' to synthpop. But others were soon to follow. LikeTubeway Army a little known outfit from West London, dropped their punk rock image and jumped on the band wagon, topping the UK charts in the summer of 1979 with the single Are Friends Electric?. This prompted the singer, Gary Numan to go solo and in the same year he release the Kraftwerk inspired album, The Pleasure Principle and again topped the charts for the second time with the single "Cars".
This Zeitgeist of revolution in electronic music performance and recording/production was encapsulated by then would be record producer, Trevor Horn of The Buggles in the international hit Video Killed the Radio Star. With the success of this single synth pop had firmly arrived in the mainstream and the music landscape changed for ever.
As avant-garde of Futurism (music) fused with the pop sensibilities of the New Romantics the sounds of synthesizers came to dominated the pop music of the early 80s as well as replacing 70s Disco in dance clubs in Europe. Albums such as Yellow Magic Orchestra's Solid State Survivor 1979, Devo's Freedom_of_Choice 1980, Visage's Visage (1980), John Foxx's Metamatic (1980), Gary Numan's Telekon (1980), Ultravox's Vienna (1980), The Human League's Dare (1981), Depeche Mode's Speak and Spell (1981), Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981), Duran Duran's Duran Duran (1981), Landscape's From the Tearooms of Mars...to the Hellholes of Uranus (1981), and Yazoo's Upstairs at Eric's (1982) all typified the early synthesizer based pop sound.
Other key artists from the early-mid 1980s include Eurythmics, Talk Talk, A Flock of Seagulls, Tears for Fears, Pet Shop Boys, Devo, OMD, Japan, Thomas Dolby, Alphaville, Thompson Twins, Bronski Beat, Heaven 17, Howard Jones, Blancmange, Paul Haig, Norman Iceberg, Animotion, Propaganda, Modern Talking, Ultravox, Missing Persons, Real Life and The System
[edit] Late 1980s - Present
In Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia, Synthpop remained more widely accepted. Eventually, the global synthpop scene re-emerged in the United States with the growing success of American record labels such as A Different Drum. Synth-pop pioneers in Latin America during the 80s were Virus.
Some bands embraced by modern synthpop fans like Red Flag and Anything Box were dropped by their labels and began self-releasing new albums. Some Christian bands, such as Joy Electric and Declaration, were influenced by formerly 1980s acts like Depeche Mode and Erasure. Low-fidelity synthpop artists Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields, Microfilm, and Ariel Pink have found success on independent labels.
During the 90's a few Alternative acts continued to experiment with electronics and pop music. Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, U2, R.E.M., Lenny Kravitz, Radiohead,
Since 2008 there has been a trend toward individualistic solo female singer songwriters such as Lady GaGa who uses synthesizers in a 1980s style.[1]
[edit] Usage
Synthpop is sometimes confused with electropop, which is generally regarded to be a particular style of synthpop that incorporates the more robotic elements and feel of electro music. The term "synthpop" has also become increasingly used in goth and industrial circles to describe various alternative electronic artists who have used influences from synthpop, particularly those in the electronic body music and futurepop genres such as Psyche, Covenant, Mesh, And One, Melotron, S.P.O.C.K, Beborn Beton, VNV Nation and Wolfsheim. It is otherwise generally used in its more classic sense, referring to early-to-middle 1980s synthesizer-driven pop acts (e.g., The Human League, Eurythmics), less precisely, to a variety of other pop acts from the same era (e.g., Duran Duran, Visage, Japan, and Spandau Ballet), and to current and emerging synthesizer-driven pop acts. A number of artists credit Techno music's emergence to synthpop's influence.
[edit] Synthpop revival
|
|
This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2008) |
| Synthpop revival | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | |
| Typical instruments |
Synthesizer - Drum machine - Bass Guitar - Tape loops - Drums - Guitar Sequencer - Keyboard - Vocoder - Sampler)
|
| Mainstream popularity | late 2000s in the UK |
Synthpop revival is a movement in modern electronic dance music of the 2000s where bands draw from of the original sounds and aesthetics of the synthpop sound of the 1980s, some also
The mid to late 2000s saw a reemergence of interest in the musical style with the advent of 80's-inspired bands such as
8 Bit Weapon, The Knife, Hot Chip, Cut Copy, The Presets, IAMX, MGMT, M83, Junior Boys, Ladytron, Postal Service, LCD Soundsystem, If There Is Something
[edit] Artists
[edit] See also
- Darkwave
- Schaffel beat - triplet feel popularized in electronic music by acts like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Covenant, The Knife, and Goldfrapp.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
||||||||
|
|||||
